Chapter 12: Showdown

2 regulars & 2 minimized remain

The remaining four competitors sat in their small dorm room, following the same visual design as the rest prior, two beds on either side of the room faced each other from a few feet away, there was a minimized bed to each side of the regular beds also by a few feet. Giving the beds all equal distance from one another.

Lisa was busy moving the two minimized beds as Andrea watched her, moving them to her side of the room. She placed them under her bed in the darkness, in addition to moving her bed padding to the floor giving any minimized sleeping in them great protection and positioning. They had to be careful in this final stretch.

Joel lay in his bed without saying much of anything, Lisa watched him sympathetically not surprised at all that he wouldn't want to speak or do anything. He wanted this to be over at any cost, whether that be his death or victory, both equally viable to him.

Thomas walked over to the area where they were sleeping as Lisa had moved his bed there as she got settled on the floor. - "You were great out there. I owe you." she smiled.

Thomas turned around confused, raising his eyebrow as he threw his blanket in the air flattening it to make his bed. - "I already owed you, remember? I guess you could say we are even, also my death was linked with yours so I can't really take credit for kindness there."

Joel sat up in an angry exhale. - "Here he goes again, do you ever do anything for kindness? do you ever do anything for anyone other than yourself?" Joel kept his back to them as he sat on his bed hunched forward, his hands clutched each other as he stared into the floor.

"I was just saying that it didn't make sense in this context, Joel. I would've done it even if my life wasn't in the balance!" Thomas raised his voice at Joel who continued to accuse him of selfishness, all he wanted to do was change but Joel would let him, he would never let him leave everything behind. Thomas turned to see Lisa shaking her head at him as if telling him now was not the right time to act this way.

"Yeah, sure." Joel spat sarcastically.

"Are you forgetting what I did for you back in the escape room? I veered Andrea away from you, would a selfish man do that?" Thomas stood his ground, attempting to prove to Joel he was a changed man, he, unfortunately, did not read the room, forgetting what occurred earlier in the arena.

Joel turned slowly to make eye contact with Thomas, his eyes were burning with a deep rage. - "What you did for me? You mean saving Peter, who is now dead. Saving Theo who is now paste? Saving Lara who is- who is now right over there probably still alive in that evil whores stomach? What part of all of this am I meant to be thanking you for? my own life? Whoop-tee-fucking-do, I attempted to give my life on a multitude of occasions for the safety of those people and now that they are gone, I don't care what happens to me." Joel waved his hands around like a crazy person, his voice reached powerful levels as he raged and spat, Thomas cowered as his face scrunched up realizing he was treading terrain he shouldn't be.

"I'm sorry." Thomas whispered lowering his head. - "Truly."

Joel turned and sat heavily back down again into his previous position, Lisa watched with further sympathy from his emotional breakdown as he breathed a heavy sigh from the apology. - "Stop apologizing, it wasn't your fault what happened."

"Part of my quest to be a better person involves honestly, Joel. The reason Andrea picked you in 'Arena' wasn't to take you down as she says, but rather to get back at me." Thomas' heart started accelerating at a ludicrous speed.

Joel kept his back turned but his head visibly lifted, looking away from the ground but instead forwards. - "What...?"

"I overstepped and started winding her up because I knew she couldn't team with another minimized, I made fun of her and deliberately attempted to anger her. This bit me in the ass when... when arena popped up and the giants were able to choose their partner without their say in it. I'm- I'm so so sorry, Joel. I didn't know." Thomas started to shake, the first time the man had genuinely shown sympathy thus far in the games, he'd gotten what he wanted for himself but caused suffering in others.

Joel stood up and began walking around the back of the bed in Thomas's direction, Thomas kept his head down refusing to make eye contact. Joel walked right up to him, Thomas was looking at his legs and feet. - "Look at me." Joel requested, speaking lightly and calmly.

Thomas slowly lifted his head until his eyes were about to meet Joel's, before he could even make eye contact Joel struck him across the face with a powerful fist causing him to fall backwards onto the bed, he clutched his face in pain as Joel shook his hand through the air trying to relieve the tension.

"Joel!" Lisa shouted - "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"You're asking what's wrong with me? I can't tell if you're serious or not." - Joel paused for the briefest of moments soaking in the moment and preparing his thoughts as he stood in front of Thomas who rolled from side to side whilst coddling his face. - "This stupid asshole has been a pain in my ass from the second I met him, he only cares about himself, he takes and takes, he never gives, the only benefit you get is a bonus from working together that he never wanted you to have. Every single thing that's gone wrong for me in this game so far is because of this man so why don't you and your buddy leave me the hell alone." he marched around to the side of his bed pulling it further away from them creating a larger distance between them.

"Come on, now. I understand you are incredibly angry but moving your bed like that is just unsafe, Andrea could kill you." Lisa explained whilst shaking her head in disagreement.

"I fucking hope so. The pain of being digested by Andrea would be more bearable than working together with that moron." he waved his hand in Thomas' general direction as he got under his blanket and turned away from the pair.

Lisa sighed preparing to lie down as Thomas did so as well, not daring to say anymore. - "Oh and one other thing." Joel spoke one last time. - "I'm not going to try tomorrow so you better focus on each other for strategies, I'm done with this game and I refuse to provide any more horrific violent entertainment for these motherfuckers."

Thomas turned to look at Lisa with a sad look on his face, Joel felt like a completely different person, the events had totally changed him and was to be expected, he didn't really know what that felt like. Lisa lowered her head down to Thomas and whispered - "We'll just move closer to him after he falls asleep, it'll be fine." to which Thomas nodded in agreement.

"THE FINAL GAME WILL BEGIN SOON. YOU WILL HAVE 15 MINUTES TO PREPARE." the guard shouted in the room, blinking multiple eyes awake at the same time, they all turned to look at the guard, who turned and walked away without repeating themselves.

Lisa turned to check on both Thomas and Joel only to find Joel was gone, she quickly rubbed her eyes in order to make sure she wasn't blind but he appeared to be gone, his blanket was at the bottom of the bed bundled up, there was still a visible dent in the bedsheet from a person lying there, almost as if he got up and just left.

"We need to find him." Lisa remarked whilst signaling towards Joel's empty bed, she shook off her blanket, placing them into a pile of her bed as she stood up to her full height next to Thomas.

"You heard him last night. He doesn't want anything to do with me and is doing his own thing." Thomas made his bed neat for no apparent reason.

"He's not in the right headspace, he's unhinged." she explained.

"Which is exactly why we should let him. I don't want to get within five feet of the guy." Thomas felt his selfish desires seeping out, his attempt at changing had been shattered by Joel, feeling deep within that he should just give up trying.

Lisa paused for a brief moment pursing her lips together. - "He's a kind person, he's only a detriment to himself."

"What is it you want us to do? only one of us is going to survive this madness anyways."

"My original strategy can still work, more so now than earlier." said Lisa.

"Which is?" Thomas asked.

"To abstain for playing the games, if they kill all of us then so be it, but I don't believe they will do it." She looked determined at him, banking all of their lives on a bizarre strategy.

Thomas held his hands in front of him with a confused smile, he felt as though Lisa was grasping at straws here. "Don't you think someone has tried that before?"

"Maybe it worked. You don't know otherwise do you?" Lisa was getting shakey as the games closed in on their finale, attempting to prove to herself that everything would be okay in the end.

Thomas began holding his head, visualizing violent certain death at the ends of a guard or Andrea, and began to shake, unable to hold himself together. - "Fuck. Yes, fine. What else are we going to do right? But we need to get Joel onboard before it's too late, if it's just us then I don't think it'll work."

The competitors entered their next game room, they were met once more with a large white room, it was mostly empty with the exception of a tower in the middle, it was about 7 feet tall and had multiple pathways spiraling around it, it looked like a jungle gym for minimized with hundreds of branching pathways, it was 1 and a half meters wide and long. There were 3 ways to get onto the pathways from the bottom.

A door in the distance behind it opened up unveiling two guards who entered the room, behind them a man stood wearing a mask similar to the white ones the guards wore except it was black. He was wearing a long coat and stood out from the guards. His boot footsteps echoed in the large room as he walked through the silence towards the competitors.

The man took glances from left to right of the remaining competitors.

"WELL DONE ON MAKING THIS FAR, I AM VERY PROUD OF ALL OF YOU. WELCOME TO YOUR FINAL GAME, I CALL IT; SHOWDOWN." - "THIS GAME IS SIMPLE, ALL OF YOU MUST FIGHT TO THE DEATH, RIGHT HERE." all of them were taken aback by this, the final game wasn't a clever design or an intricate contraption with rules, it was to beat each other to death.

"INCLUDING THE MINIMIZED, WHICH MIGHT CONFUSE YOU." - "BEFORE YOU, YOU'LL SEE A TOWER." - he signaled his hand to his right to showcase the structure.

"AT THE TOP OF THIS TOWER IS A MINIMIZED SERUM THAT WILL RETURN ONE OF THE MINIMIZED TO NORMAL SIZE. ONLY ONE OF YOU MAY HAVE IT AND IT WILL GIVE YOU A FIGHTING CHANCE AGAINST YOUR FELLOW COMPETITORS." the man spoke through his obvious voice modulator with his hands behind his back, he had a polite and respectful demeanor about him.

"THE LAST PLAYER STANDING WILL BE CROWNED VICTOR." the man stared at the remaining four competitors for ten seconds. - "THE GAME HAS NOW BEGUN." he spawn on his heels slowly and began walking towards the doors he entered from, Lisa quickly looked around at the other players mainly at Andrea in disbelief, they had started already?

Joel and Thomas sprinted for the tower setting off Andrea immediately as she sprinted towards the entrance of the tower. Lisa spotted this just as quickly and tackled the girl unable to topple her over, they entered a vicious grapple together. - "You can't let them enter the tower, you idiot!" Andrea shouted at Lisa.

"Watch me!" she snarled, rotating around Andrea to her back area placing her hands on her chest and throwing her backward over her own body like a wrestling move. Andrea clashed with the ground on her head, not letting this get her down she climbed to her feet throwing immediate return kicks and punches. - "You're going to get yourself killed, don't you understand?" Andrea seemed genuinely concerned, not for Lisa's safety but rather her harmful behavior.

Joel began sprinting up the spiraling ramp around the tower as Thomas lagged behind struggling to keep up. - "Joel! Wait!" he shouted but no avail, Joel left his vision as he progressed too far ahead.

The two girls battled it out below, Andrea struck Lisa hard enough to discombobulate her for enough seconds to get a grip on her, smashing her head into the tower knocking her to the ground. She quickly began circling the tower looking for the boys, she stepped onto the spiral pathway on the outside using it as a step ladder so she could see higher up, spotting Thomas near the top, he paused like a deer caught in headlights.

"Don't you dare touch that serum." she spat struggling to hold herself up to see him, only her head poking through the gap into the mini tower.

"Maybe you should've removed my other arm then!" Thomas shouted as he bolted off.

"That's it, you're done!" Andrea growled putting more strength into her left hand to hold her weight towards the tower, she threw her other hand into the tower floor attempting to smash Thomas in one smack, throwing himself to the floor as the hand flew over his body he began army crawling, slowly due to his lack of another arm. Andrea's index finger and thumb began looking for his inch-tall body, feeling over for where he was as she could barely see, successfully plucking him between them. - "Gotcha!" she smirked.

Lisa immediately struck her in the back of the head causing it to jerk forward and slam off the tower sending her falling backward off the tower.

Making it to the next ramp Thomas sprinted up to the final level hoping to see Joel there but he wasn't. The serum was on a small wooden table in the middle, he was now at the highest point of the tower where Andrea wouldn't be able to reach, he was guaranteed regrowth if he wanted it. He approached the golden ticket to safety, his eyes welled up and glowed as he closed in on the magical serum, clutching it in his only hand and lifting it up to his face. - "Fascinating." he said as he nearly cried from the sight.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden reminder that Joel was nowhere to be seen, he quickly glanced around himself looking for that fool wherever he was, he took off back down to the next floor tightly clutching the growth serum in his hand.

Thomas jogged through the floor below, the sound of female grunting filling his ears as he searched for his partner. He stopped in the middle of the room with a confused expression feeling as though he just saw someone, he turned to his right to see Joel standing on the very edge of the tower, his toes poking out over the massive drop, he wasn't clutching a pillar or anything, simply leaning forward would end him. Thomas slowly snuck towards him with the serum in hand.

"Hey buddy, what- what are you doing?" Thomas spoke lightly in an attempt not to startle him, Joel's head jolted up realizing Thomas was behind him. - "Woah woah! Don't worry, it's just me. Don't move."

"I can't convince myself to do it." Joel said calmly, letting out a sigh of disappointment.

"Why not?" Thomas asked, hoping for Joel to unravel a reason to carry on.

"I promised Mineko, it's what I want but I can never seem to forget about putting other people first. Even when it backfires."

"Who is Mineko? your wife?" Thomas asked, getting more personal with Joel.

Joel snickered audibly exhaling air from his nose. - "No, no. I think that ship has sailed for both of us. She's just someone I met in the games, I promised her I'd win and destroy this place. It means everything to her." Thomas watched in fascination, creeping ever closer to Joel, noting how he said means not meant, who was this woman if she was still alive? how could she be?

"I find it very hard to give up on others. It's one of my biggest weaknesses, Thomas."

"That's not a weakness... friend." Thomas paused as he struggled to say friend again, just like he originally did, for fear of triggering Joels anger towards him. Joel smiled out into the air which Thomas could not see.

"I'm surprised you would say so, that's not really your thing." said Joel.

Thomas paused, thinking carefully about how he felt and who Joel perceived him as. - "You're right. I was scared for my life, I put my humanity behind me in order to win, I've done it my whole life and in this capitalist world, you are rewarded for such behavior. But I'm done being that way. I'll do anything to help you, Joel. Like you did for me and everyone else."

"Hmmm." Joel mumbled, thinking deeply about the words exchanged with him.

"Take this, please." Thomas held out his hand showing the serum to Joel, he was out of Joel's reach desperately trying to move Joel away from the edge by any means necessary. Joel didn't turn around to look. - "I don't need that serum, I'm going to make a decision for myself for once, I've lost my faith in humanity forever."

Joel looked down towards the floor, to his side out in the open he saw Andrea pummelling Lisa's face in, she could've been dead already going off her looks, if not she was a few punches away. Joel watched her sympathetically, that similar feeling of guilt and his mind pushing him to help everyone, he shook his head violently as if battling with this idea. He felt tears coming on. - "Why can't you just let me leave...?" he whispered to himself as he looked at the ground hundreds of feet below.

He'd made up his mind, he'd fight for a while longer to help Lisa and let her win. Before he could back up from the edge Thomas suddenly swung into his view from the front, wrapping his remaining arm around Joel whilst still clutching the serum and throwing him back towards the inside of the tower, Joel fell onto his ass watching Thomas from in front of him as he lost balance and toppled backwards. - "NO!" Joel shrieked diving forwards and blindly throwing his arm forwards grabbing whatever he could.

Joel clutched tightly at Thomas' shirt as he looked upwards at Joel's face, there were no grips around him and the floor was glossy white, giving him zero friction he felt himself slipping forwards as Thomas was heavier than he was. - "Aw fuck me!" he panicked, groaning heavily and screwing up his face trying to pull upwards with all his might.

"Why did you do that?" Joel angrily shouted as he felt his body slipping ever closer to the edge, Thomas lowered as his arm came further out from the ledge following his body.

"I hope that I could've been a better person and I promise you I would have been had I survived." Thomas smiled at Joel as sweat dripped from his face. Terror fell on Joel's face as he fully fell off the edge clutching Thomas falling to their deaths. - "Kick her ass for me." Thomas spoke before they went into freefall, jamming the serum into Joel's shoulder in front of him.

Andrea heard a huge clatter on her right, standing up from Lisa to inspect the impact, her eyes falling upon a skinny scruffy man who looked like complete shit lying on the floor holding his head. He grunted heavily and stood to his feet, towering over Andrea by 1 foot. Joel watched Andrea in all her evil glory feeling fear in him from seeing her face once more, this sadistic murderer that stood before him.

This was the first time he'd ever seen her face this small, it was also the first time he'd ever seen her eyebrows raised in shock and eyes filled with fear. Joel's eyes fell to the floor on his left looking at the blood splatter underneath Thomas's corpse as it lay there, like a flattened spider. He looked back up at Andrea. He internalized his fear and converted it into a rage, deliberately recalling everything she had done this far he felt himself begin to shake.

"Joel?" she squeaked, Andrea heard the black-masked man loud and clear, there was a growth serum at the top of the tower but still, it shocked her to see him standing above her for a change. - "I was just playing the game like everyone else."

"You made them suffer, you made everyone suffer." Joel vaulted towards her punching her in the face, the strongest punch she had felt thus far, her face crashing into the hard floor. Joel stretched his shoulders backward and forwards, furthermore rotating his right arm around in circles, warming up his muscles. He lay down on top of her chest and struck her again even harder, blood welled up in her mouth as he leaned in. - "Not even a fraction of what they felt."

"You have no idea how much worse I could've done!" Andrea groaned spitting out the blood from her mouth onto his face, combined with his expression gave the impression of a crazy killer. He wrapped his hands around her neck and squeezed, lifting his face up to the ceiling unable to look her in the eyes. He drifted into his thoughts as he strangled Andrea to death. - It still hurt him to kill but he needed to end this. He wondered if she would ever kill on the outside or did she only turn evil due to power and zero consequences inside. 

Joel looked back down to see her pale face still as her arms hit the floor, he released her and stood up to his full height above her. Looking up to see Lisa beaten to a pulp, Andrea with vicious red marks on her neck and Thomas smashed against the floor. So what now? he thought.

His mind attempted to backtrack through his memories, through all the hideous violence to his conversation with Mineko in the back rooms.

"The last game is always the same, whilst I don't know the line-up of running games. I do know that the last is the same, always. We can tear this place down, but I need your full cooperation, I need to know you'll go all the way, Joel." Mineko spoke to him with determination.

"I will. No matter what it takes."

"I have chosen you. You can't get distracted by others, you cannot put the lives of others before you. Can you do that?"

"Yes. Yes, I can."

"Good. Then take this." Mineko plucked the fingers of her left gloved hand with the fingers of her other hand pulling the glove off to reveal her dainty skinny hands and long fingers. She reached into her pocket delicately and handed him a tiny syringe between her fingers. - "Careful." she whispered whilst releasing it down to him.

"What is this?" Joel looked curiously at the clear liquid inside.

"Protect this with your life, if the liquid is lost or you lose this then the plan is entirely out the window." Mineko explained. - "This is a growth serum, they make every minimized compete for it in the final battle to give them a chance at the combat. Years ago I had to find them to regrow myself- it's a long story but I got lucky and found another, I've kept it ever since."

"So I can grow immediately rather than having to race for the other one? a freebie basically?" Joel asked with a smile, glad that he had this advantage in his back pocket.

"Not at all. You need to fight for the serum in the finals like your life depends on it. If you use it, you'll grow and so will the serum with your body. And then-" Mineko was interrupted.

"-I use the one you gave me to... turn giant?" Joel looked at her confused.

She nodded with a big smile on her face. - "Exactly. I'll be there with you, try to remember that I'll be standing on your front left."

"You could've done this earlier when you had them. Why are you using them now and why on me?" he asked.

"Because when you win the games, you are presented with the runner of the games. He will introduce himself to you because he likes to meet all of his precious winners, you'll be able to take him out right there." Mineko felt great determination in her plan, even more so if Joel could do what she couldn't.

"I'll do my best." Joel nodded.

"That's why it's yours." Mineko responded.

The doors opened once more as Joel heard multiple approaching footsteps combined with a slow clap. He turned away from Andrea's body to see the man with the black mask approaching him. He was surrounded by four guards, two on each side of him.

"BRAVO. A MINIMIZED VICTORY, ABSOLUTELY SPECTACULAR." the man bowed beneath Joel who looked at him bewilderedly.

"YOUR PERFORMANCE WAS MAGNIFICENT- OH- EXCUSE ME-" the man lifted his hands to clutch his mask lifting it to unveil his face. Joel was shocked as the man's deformed face presented itself, he had an eye patch on his left eye and four major scars that went from the top of his face to the bottom. In addition to multiple in other places.

"We've been watching you for a while, your performance was nothing short of spectacular. Saving the teenager, protecting a regular, nothing short of heroic. A fine episode." the man spoke in his real voice with the mask and its voice modulator removed, his voice was raspy and old-sounding although he didn't look older than 36.

Joel was expecting to be angry from meeting this man but he didn't, he felt like he was receiving the answers he so desperately want. - "-episode?" Joel croaked nervously at the man who smiled back at him.

"Well of course. Welcome to the Minimized Championship Games, televised privately to a select few hundred people." the man looked proud of himself. He leaned to the side to look behind Joel taking note of the two bodies of the regular women, he snapped his fingers to his side getting the attention of the guards. - "Minimize those two, prepare the corpses for removal." Joel watched the guard approached the two women on the floor.

Joel clutched his eyes shut allowing his mind to blast through all the pain and torture of the games, all caused by this man. Where was his pride? where was his rage? The voice of Lara echoed in his brain, the crying for help from Andrea's stomach. His eyes shot open in an angry look at the man.

"What's that look for? What is it with you minimized winners always being so angry? The regulars always cry and leave with the money." the man sighed and tutted at Joel.

Joel's hand quickly exited his pocket holding the serum in the air ready to jab it in his neck. - the man held his hands out shouting "WAIT." which Joel did. All four guards held their fists out surrounding the man from a foot away ready to pounce at any second.

"I know what you are going to do. But I would like to explain something before you proceed." the man kept a brave face, he didn't seem afraid of Joel potentially becoming large and unstoppable. - "If you do this, for revenge or whatever. You will never feel whole ever again, you also won't receive any of the money from your victory."

"You think I give a flying fuck about money? I'm not like you!" Joel spat saliva everywhere from his mouth as he roared ferociously.

"You may not but the families of your friends might." the man revealed a huge evil smirk on his face, Joel's curiosity was peaked as his eyebrows raised and the man could see it.

"Lara Steiner has a daughter, did you know that? 7 years old and no father. She'll end up in a bad foster home with no finances, you never know she might end up like me." the man continued as Joel's lips shook, his heart was sinking into the depths of his soul.

"Theo Gonzales. His mother is incredibly sick and unfortunately poor, she cannot afford the hospital bills and will die soon without that care." - "You see, Joel. You cannot make every decision selfishly, you need to think about others. Their families could benefit from that money and they need your help.

Joel's hand slowly began to lower as his rage subsided, he felt like he could collapse at any second. Everything he did was for others, always. Would taking the money be for others or would it be for this man who stands to lose everything if I deny? Joel pondered.

So he did as instructed, he thought about others. What about all the people this man will continue to kidnap and ruin? what about Mineko who still has been beaten down over and over by society and it's rulers? Joel looked around at all the guards who were slowly creeping towards him as his arm lowered further from his neck.

"For Lara." he whispered as the guard in front quickly removed the syringe from his hands.

The leader held his hands up surprised. - "Fantastic. Well Mr. Robinson. You are now the holder of over 100 million dollars. Thank you for your participation." the man smiled once more.

Joel was facing the guard he handed the serum to, turning his head slightly as if trying to see through their mask which obscured their face. The leader watched him stare at his guard bewildered as to what was happening.

His hand formed into a 'zero' gesture with his right hand towards the guard. As the guard nodded firmly at Joel, generating a huge smirk on Joel's face. The guard stepped away from both men pulling their masks off.

The leader's face agape with complete horror, as if he had seen a ghost. - "Mi- mi- min-"

"Hey, Arthur." Mineko returned the look of the devil at Arthur who stood there flabbergasted as she jabbed her neck plunging the serum into her bloodstream.

Arthur turned to his guards and screamed. - "Get me the fuck outta here!!" to which they swiftly obeyed, grabbing him by his clothing and running out the back doors.

Mineko blew up into the sky instantly crashing through the ceiling as she transformed into a giant.